Transcript FORENSIC LINGUISTICS

Language and Law: relations, problems and
research
• Integrative character of modern science - Linguistics and other sciences:
sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics;
• History of language and law relationship:
Language development contributed to law development and law
preservation (written law, legal documents, legal textbooks and libraries, legal
education and profession);
Law development influenced language processes: borrowings, new terms and
structures, law texts and legal genres development, communication in legal
setting;
• Problems of communication, language meaning, the use of legalese,
reforming of legal language; language expertise in the court etc. are areas
of language and law studies;
Language and Law:
Interdisciplinary studies
• Language and law as interdisciplinary field of
research:
Legal Language and Legal Communication,
Forensic Linguistics, Forensic Discourse Analyses,
Forensic Stylistics, Forensic Phonetics,
Legal Translation, Language policy,
Semiotics of Law, Synergetics of Law Discourse
FORENSIC LINGUISTICS
“Forensic linguistics is the intersection of law and
language” Roger Shuy;
“Forensic Linguistics is the use of linguistic
techniques to investigate crimes in which language
data constitute part of the evidence”
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Ed.
David Crystal;
The Term Forensic Linguistics
Svartvik J. 1968. The Evans Statements: A Case
for Forensic Linguistics. Goteborg: University
of Goteborg.
Philbrick; Frederick A. 1949. Language and the
Law: the Semantics of Forensic English. New
York: MacMillan
Rome Forum
•
The term “forensic” comes from Latin “forum” , a public square or marketplace in an ancient
Roman city used for judicial or other matters;
Rome Forum
Forensic Linguistics as the field of Applied Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics - the use of linguistic theories, knowledge
about language functions in practical settings;
• In the 1940s Applied linguistics meant a scientific approach to
teaching foreign languages or second language acquisition;
• In the 1950s
Applied Linguistics embraced machine
translation;
• 1964г. International Association of Applied Linguistics was set
up
• Nowadays Applied Linguistics embraces the theory and
practice of translation, lexicography, computer linguistics and
forensic linguistics etc.;
Linguistic expertise in the court
• The USA, Canada, the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s –
linguistic expertise came to use in legal matters;
• Europe – the 1980s linguistic expertise to identify
authors of texts began to be used in the court,
forensic
linguistics
researches
developed
(Birmingham);
• The USA - Roger Shuy (1979);
• The UK - Malcolm Coulthard (the early 1980s);
• Germany - Hannes Kniffka (the early 1980s);
Forensic Linguistics institualization
• In 1988 – 1989 a number of conferences on Forensic Linguistics were held
in Germany and in 1990, 1991 in the UK;
• In 1990,1991, 1992 – Association of Applied Linguistics of Germany held
sessions on forensic linguistics (Gottingen, Mainz, Saarbrucken
universities, Germany)
• In 1992 – 2 seminars were held in the UK (Birmingham University),
• The International Association on Forensic Linguistics was set up
http://www.iafl.org/ )
• Journal “Forensic Linguistics” was published which bears the name The
International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law since 2003;
IAFL http://www.iafl.org/
The International Association of Forensic Linguists
Development of Forensic Linguistics in the UK
• British Legislation on evidences (Judges’ rules);
• Violation of suspect rights; authenticity of police
statements;
• Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University
(Birmingham) http://www.forensiclinguistics.net/ ;
The USA: Forensic Linguistics
• Ernesto Miranda Case 1963;
• Miranda’s rules;
Linguist experts in the USA courts
• Roger Shuy “Language Crimes:The use and Abuse of
language Evidence in the Courtroom”, 1993;
“Linguistics Battles in Trademark Disputes”, 2002;
• Elizabeth Loftus “Witness for the Defence: The
Accused, the Eyewitness and the Expert Who Puts
Memory on Trial”, 1994;
Elizabeth Loftus’ works on memory set the new
direction for research – interrelation of memory and
language in legal sphere;
Federal Rule of Evidence # 702;
Australia
John Gibbons, Diana Eades – leading researchers in
Forensic Linguistics;
• The 1980s linguistics and sociolinguistics issues in
the court;
• The rights of aborigines in the court;
• Aboriginal dialect (Aboriginal English, White
English);
• Communication in the court;
• Cases on aborigines land and linguistic expertise
(dialectology);
Germany
• XIX в. The beginning of language and law studies;
• ХХ в. The 1970s the problem of document language and its
simplification;
• 1976 – Аdalbert Podlech introduces the term
“Rechtslinguistik” (law linguistics);
• In the 1980s-1990s linguists took part in writing law texts;
• XXI c. The process of law harmonization in the European
Union: cross-cultural communication in the sphere of law;
Russian Public Organization
www.ruexpert.ru
Russian Public Organization (Guild of linguist experts on document
and information disputes) (РОО ГЛЭДИС)
• Contributes to linguistic expertise in the court;
• Assists in setting up groups of linguist experts in different regions of
the country;
• Holds seminars on theory and practice of forensic linguistic
expertise;
• Assists in supplying libraries (of courts, universities, law
departments etc.) with methodics and reference writings on
linguistic expertise;
• Works out basic courses on linguistic safety for students of
philology, journalism and law departments;
• Issues the on-line almanac “Sobornaya Storona” (on history of
national Russian language, literature and customs);
Linguistic Expertise in Russian Courts
• Linguistic expertise in cases on protection of honor and
dignity of person (libel, slander) contempt of court, etc.;
• Linguistic interpretation of law texts, disputable documents
(contracts, etc.);
• Qualification of invective and abusive language;
• Text analysis in cases related to ethnic and religious
conflicts;
• Person and document linguistic identification (language,
handwriting, signature, etc.);
• Plagiarism cases;
• Translation conflict cases;
• Trade mark cases; etc.
Current trends in Forensic Linguistics research in
Russia
• To study the language of conflicts (invective, manipulative,
aggressive functions of language);
• To develop principles of legal settlement of language conflicts;
• To research and reform the language of law;
• To work out unified principles of forensic linguistics expertise;
• Linguistic training of lawyers;
• Cognitive studies of law and language;
Cross-cultural aspect of Forensic Linguistics
USA
• Linguistic expertise could be
commissioned by parties to
the case;
• Defamation cases relate to
civil law offences;
• Secret tape recording is
legal;
Germany
• Linguistic
expertise
is
commissioned by a judge;
• Defamation cases relate to
criminal law offences;
Cross-cultural aspect of Forensic Linguistics
Canada
• Linguistic expertise
(dialectology) in cases
concerning aborigine
people right to land they
historically possessed;
Australia
• Cases concerning aborigine
people right to land;
Russia
• Linguistic
expertise
of
invective
and
abuse
language in mass-media;
• Ethnic
and
religious
conflicts;
Forensic Linguistics Contributions
• Growth of Scientific findings in the sphere of language and
law;
• International and local conferences;
• Setting up of Laboratories and Centres for Forensic Linguistics
in different countries sponsored by governments to improve
methods of linguistic analysis;
• Publishing of books and textbooks on Forensic Linguistics;
• Many Universities around the world introduce courses on FL;
Master degree programs are launched at the universities in
UK and Spain;
Graduate Programs
• There are Summer Schools on Forensic Linguistics at
Aston University, Birmingham and Lodz (since 2001);
• MA program in FL - Cardiff University;
• MA program in FL – Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona);
• MSc program in FL – Aston University;
• MSc York Program in Forensic Speech Science – The University
of York – Joint Program French Associates;